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Training at a community hospital like Hillsboro Medical Center feels particularly close to home for Jacob Huegel, M.D., a second-year resident in Hillsboro Medical Center’s Family Medicine Residency Program.
That’s because Huegel grew up just “down the street” from Hillsboro Medical Center in Aloha and attended Aloha High School, where he became inspired to become a doctor.
After graduating from medical school in Pennsylvania, he learned about Hillsboro Medical Center’s Family Medicine Residency Program and immediately applied.
“It felt like it was a great opportunity to practice medicine in a community that I greatly missed, especially by the end of the pandemic,” Huegel explains. “I wanted to come back here and put new roots down.”
As a family medicine resident at Hillsboro Medical Center, Huegel has enjoyed the broad scope of practice—taking care of kids, the elderly, pregnant women—as well as the opportunity to serve diverse populations.
“I feel like I have a good work life balance as well as support from the specialist and hospital staff, and have been really able to build my skills as a practitioner,” notes Huegel.
Huegel with his Family Medicine Residency class on Orientation Day in 2022.
He has appreciated the unique structure of our residency program that offers a “2 x 2” schedule, allowing residents to complete most rotations in two-week segments and alternate between outpatient and inpatient experiences.
Huegel understands that he is able to offer a unique perspective when serving patients in the same community he grew up in.
“It means that I’m not looking at medicine from a 10,000-foot view,” says Huegel. “I’m able to focus on the health of this local community and can meet their needs.”
After completing his service commitment to the National Health Service Corps at a federally qualified health center for four years, he plans to come back to practice medicine in Washington County.
For now, he is looking forward to completing his training in the community he grew up in.
“My experience with this residency program has been excellent,” says Huegel. “I would really recommend it to anyone who wants to be part of a close, tight-knit community-based program.”